Started my second bobbin of spun yarn

Well, I spent today (or has much of it as I could due to housework) working on my second bobbin of yarn.

I am getting much better. My yarn is much more consistent and it is not breaking very often. This is a huge thing for me. However, it think I may have gone from not enough twist to too much twist. But at least it is not breaking (grin).

I am also trying not to spin as thin as I was. I think that was also contributing to some of my breakage.

Well here it is:

Spinning at the County Fair

I went to the county fair with my family and parents today. The fair had the best display of crafts. The fantastic part about it was that there was a Sheep to Shawl competition going on and I had an opportunity to watch the spinners and ask lots of questions. I spent hours just drooling over the delicious yarn they were spinning. Oh if I could only make yarn half as decently as they do.

My son was the total highlight of the day. He decided that he wanted to try and climb the rock wall. He must have tried more than 8 times. He made it to the last 2 rocks before he decided that it was too high up and decended to the bottom only to try again and again. I sure wish I had my camera and especially a camcorder so I could tape this.

Well, when I came home from the fair, I was inspired to sit at my wheel as see if I can put all the information I gained from today to good use.

Here is a picture of my first attempt at spinning. This is a single ply of wool. We are required to bring two full bobbins to our last spinning class so that we can learn to ply.

Birthday cards for my co-workers and sister

Well, with all the excitement of my son's birthday and my spinning classes, I missed my co-workers birthdays. Shame on me. So, I buckled down this weekend and made their birthday cards. It also didn't hurt that it is a three day weekend. More time to play. I believe that the work week should be changed to 4 days on 3 days off. I need more time to play. hehe

Here are the cards that I made them

The inside of this cards states "If I had a dollar for every birthday, I could retire"

Second spinning class

Well our second class was even better than the first class. We brought our spinning wheels to class and leaned how to use them. We then spent the entire class treadling our little happy hearts out. Ok... maybe not so happy. The yarn and I were having a battle of the wills. I kept wanting to twist it and wrap it around the bobbin, it kept wanting to break on me as it was being wrapped. I finally won out by treadling faster and adding more twist. hehe.

Here isa picture of my beautiful spinning wheel. It is a Louet S51.

Son's birthday

Well today is my son's birthday. He wanted an Indiana Jones theme birthday at Chuck E Cheese. He had so much fun. He invited several friends and family. Everyone played lots of games, ate loads of pizza and sugared up with soda and cake.

Here is a picture of the cake I made for him.

First day of spinning class

Well today was my first class in series of 3 classes. We discussed the different types of fiber and fiber preparation. We carded the fiber that we received as part of the class. Even thought he fiber we got was already prepared and ready to spin, it gave us the opportunity to practice using the carders and creating rolags. We then used the rolags to practice our drafting technique on our spindles.




Here is a picture of what I spun on my Spindolyn.

My Spindolyn is here!!!!!!!!!! Yipppeeee!!!!!

I received my Spindoly so quickly. I am so excited. I am itching to get my hands on this and start spinning. Unfortunately my son's birthday is this weekend so I am going to have to be patient. Ohhhhh the torture.

Mother's Day card for my mom

I made this card tonight for my mom for Mother's Day. She loves her baths. She relaxes in her bathtub for hours. She actully has this exact bathtub and it is purple. When I saw this stamp, I new I had to make a card for my mom.

Acetate card

Close up of the mouse showing the water effect on the bubbles

Inside of the card

I thought an acetate card would be really fun as it would really show off the bubbles. I stamped the bubbles and colored the larger bubbles using silver paintstik.

I colored the mouse and bathtub using colored pencils and gamsol. I added Crystal Effect to the bubbles to give them a nice shiny 3D watery look.

I then added a sheer curtain for a bit of whimsy.

I can't wait to give this to her. She is going to love it. hehe

Party favors for my son's birthday

Today my mom and I got together to make these party favors for my son. We filled these with Indiana Jones M&Ms, rubber worms and snakes, and a dinosaur egg with a dinosaur inside. We used a paper crimper to seal the ends.

My mom initially got the idea and instructions for this project from a LSS at their Saturday Make it, Take it.

We took the concept and created a larger version so that it could accomodate the goodies.

Here are some pictures of the party favors:

My son loved them.

Wait till you see his cake. I will post a picture of it when I finish it.

My new curtains

These are going to be my new curtains for my bathroom. The color is actually Sage green. This yarn is so pretty, it has a hint of sheen to it.

I got the free pattern from Knit Picks. Click here for the free pattern.

I have to say though, I had a rough start of this. I had to tear it out probably 8 times or more. I kept ending up with an extra stitch or two by the 4th row. I received some great advice from a really nice person on the Ravelry forum that gave me some great advice. She suggested that I put stitch marker at the halfway point (stitch 98). This way I could easily find the extra stitch and fix it should I need to. This little trick has helped a bunch. Probably cause it forces me to count my stitches more often than I usually do.

The best part about this, once I got the hang of the pattern, it is actually pretty fun and easy.